[Purpose and History of the Government-Industry Meetings]

Series of JASIC Asia Government-Industry Meetings has been staged for the purpose of achieving international harmonization through the support of Asian countries/territories in their efforts to establish effective regulations and improve their certification systems. As the principal method of accomplishing this purpose, the Asian countries/territories attending the G-I Meetings have agreed to strive for participation in the WP.29, which is the world's only international forum specialized in the harmonization of automotive technical regulations.
Starting with the first JASIC Asia G-I Meeting held in Tokyo October 1998, a total of ten G-I Meetings have been staged in various Asian countries/territories, with JASIC and the transport-related government offices of the host nations serving as co-organizers. A cumulative total of over 1,300 people from government offices in the transport, environment and automotive regulation fields and from the vehicle and parts manufacturing industries in 14 Asian countries/territories took part in the past ten G-I Meetings.

At the first three JASIC Asia G-I Meetings, which comprised the First Series, discussions were focused on the delineation of suitable automotive regulations and certification system for each participating country/territory to achieve the harmonization of regulations and the mutual recognition of certification with other nations. As sum-up of the First Series, a joint statement entitled "Enhancement of Regulations and Certification Systems, Participation in the WP.29, and Accession to the 1958 and 1998 Agreements" was issued.

For the Second Series covering the 4th to 6th JASIC Asia G-I Meetings, it was decided that discussions would be directed to the subject of realization and expansion of observer participation in WP.29 in order to accomplish the goal stipulated in the previously-issued joint statement. Therefore, the members focused their dialogs on the identification of obstacles to WP.29 participation and debated various methods of overcoming the obstacles. As a result, at the 6th JASIC Asia G-I Meeting, the members issued the joint statement of the Second Series pertaining to the achievements of the past G-I Meetings, participation in the WP.29/GRs and accession to the 1958 Agreement as future targets, determination of the course of future G-I Meetings, and cooperation with the automobile industry. At the same time, they decided on the theme of the Third Series, which is "Realization of ECE Regulations Adoption and WP.29/GRs Participation."

Throughout the Third Series consisting of the 7th to 9th JASIC Asia G-I Meetings, the participants discussed issues along the theme of the Series and obtained good results. More specifically, (1) the discussion allowed the participants to develop their understanding of the 1958 Agreement and several countries/territories stated their commitments to accession to the Agreement; (2) the importance of WP.29 participation was confirmed and it was decided to invite parties involved in organization of WP.29 to the next G-I Meeting to promote awareness; and (3) it was agreed to continue holding "expert meetings" to support the activities of G-I Meetings in the future.

The Fourth Series started in 2005 as the 10th JASIC Asia G-I Meeting was held in Malaysia. At this meeting, the participating countries/territories expressed a wide range of profound ideas and exchanged opinions on three objectives: (1) realizing the ratification of the 1958/1998 Agreements by Asian countries/territories and increasing the number of ratifying countries/territories; (2) expanding participation in WP.29 and getting out information on the actual state of affairs in Asia; and (3) strengthening solidarity among Asian countries/territories with the prospect of effecting a smooth transfer to new government-industry meetings.

Regarding the first objective of membership in the U.N. Agreements, it was reported that Malaysia was moving ahead with the procedure to join the 1958/1998 Agreements, while Thailand had gone through most of the membership procedure and was on the verge of joining the 1958 Agreement. Some countries/territories expressed their intention to join the 1958 Agreement in the wake of these two countries, in 2007, and the participating countries/territories shared an understanding that now the time was right to discuss specifics about mutual recognition under the 1958 Agreement in Asia.
Concerning the second objective of expanding WP.29 participation and getting out information about actual conditions in Asia, Japan, China, Korea, and India have been participating in WP.29 on an ongoing basis, and in November of 2005 Indonesia participated for the first time as an observer. What is more, there were signs that the Asian presence is more solid with, for example, the start of activities at the WP.29 based on proposals from China and India regarding motorcycle exhaust gas test methods.
As for the third objective of strengthening solidarity among Asian countries/territories with the prospect of effecting a smooth transfer to new government-industry meetings, Indonesia and Thailand gave reports on the experts meetings that were held in 2005. In addition, several countries/territories, including Malaysia and Thailand, expressed their intention to hold experts meetings in the future and decided to coordinate with JASIC regarding a specific timetable. This meeting confirmed and shared an understanding that such ongoing experts meetings are a link to strengthened solidarity among Asian countries/territories and a key element in building a framework for new government-industry meetings.

The 11th JASIC Asia G-I Meeting, the second meeting in the Fourth Series, is scheduled to be held with the following programs.

28 to 30 November 2006 (3 days)

Jakarta, Indonesia

Representatives of government offices in the transport, environment and vehicle regulation fields and members of the vehicle and parts manufacturing industries from 16 Asian countries/territories (Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Japan)

* 28 to 29 November: Presentations and discussions Under the concept "Realization of Accession to the 1958 Agreement and Improvement of Asian Presence at WP.29," the following three key issues will be focused on.
* Ratification to the 1958 Agreement by Asian countries/territories and expansion of such ratification within Asia;
* Expansion of participation in WP.29 by Asian countries/territories and getting out information on the actual state of affairs in Asia; and,
* Agreement for future G-I Meetings based on stronger partnerships among countries/territories.

Reporting of harmonization activities of each country/territory and two sessions of panel discussions are also scheduled at the meeting. The panel discussions will be held to determine an ideal future course of vehicle certification system after acceding to 1958 Agreement as well as to identify problems and solve them for successfully acceding to the Agreement.

* 30 November: Technical Tour

Indonesia's Directorate General of Land Transportation (DGLT) and JASIC

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport